Monday, April 24, 2017

This week has been full of miracles and rain. It rained almost everyday. We got soaked a few times! I want to tell you about an amazing experience that Elder Smith and I had this week!

Elder Smith and I got to do some awesome service on Friday. It was a strange day because it was different. It was the first day I've seen this year where there has not been a single cloud in the sky. It was all blue sky and warm! A nice change. We did yard work for a family in our ward. They had us trim bushes, pull weeds, mow their lawn, and rake leaves. I loved it because we don't get very many opportunities to do service here. Most people say they don't want service (even when they obviously wanted the help). So we worked hard a had a great time.

The next day, Saturday, we had a lesson set up with a Chinese woman named Jenny (That is her American name). We brought our ward mission leader with us and she had a friend who also was there. Her friend was Buddhist, but he offered to translate what we taught when needed. Jenny's english is decent. She knows enough to effectively communicate, but when gospel words come up, that is when we needed the translator. She also looked up a lot of words on her phone.

As we went through the Restoration lesson, she started to get very excited. She agreed that God is there and loves her. She shared an experience of when she was in China. She used to also be a Buddhist, but one night she had a dream. She saw Jesus Christ and He gave her a hug. At that point, she knew that God was there and she wanted to go to church. She has been attending a local church for a few years.

When we taught about Joseph Smith's first vision, she was very excited. She told us how she knows that God answers her prayers. She then told us about yesterday. She had a painting job to do outside and that is very difficult with the amount of rainfall we have been getting this Spring. So she prayed to God and asked that the rain stop until she finishes the job. It did not rain one drop on Friday. She finished the job that evening, and the rain resumed the next day (the day we had this lesson).

Jenny has a lot of faith. She knows that God is there and that He loves her. She has faith that when she asks for something from Him, He will give it to her. That is a promise not given to just her. It is given to all of us, too! Heavenly Father loves every single one of us, no matter what life we are living or how rebellious we are. If we turn to Him in prayer, He will answer. No one is ever too far gone to ask for His help.

I know that Jesus Christ lives! He died for us so that we might live. His arms are out stretched to everyone. No one is exempt from his love and care. If you follow Him and keep the commandments, you will feel His love and embrace.

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,Elder Bretton Steiner.

The sunset after the storm! This was the Saturday night storm that actually rained pretty hard.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

This week has been pretty good. It was Spring Break over here, so some people have been out of town. We have had a few funny experiences this week.

On Saturday, we were scheduled to have dinner with the Hamblin family. We are still getting used to the new ward and so we looked at one of our ward directories to find out where they lived. Their address was pretty far away, near Shady Lake. So, we mounted our bikes and headed out!

We got to Shady Lake a little early, so we biked around the lake a little and discovered a new housing development that is not on our map. That is cool! We arrived at their house about 5 minutes to 5pm. We knocked on their door and there was no response. There wasn't a car in front of the house. In fact, it actually looked like no one lived there. We called up the family and they said that they actually lived at this other address which was another great distance away. Woops!

So we biked as fast as we could and made it there in 15 minutes! We had some nice pizza with their family. They told us that they had lived there for the last 6 months. I thought it was weird because our ward directories needed to be re-printed at least every 3 months to keep it accurate. When we got back to our apartment that night, I looked at the ward directory I got it from and sure enough, exactly 6 months old. I should have looked at the newer one that was only 3 months old. Oh, well. It all worked out.

This week, we also got to meet a part-member family named the Rhode's. The husband was baptized last September and his wife was really impressed with the church. She claims that she is an atheist, but after talking with her and getting to know her a little, we are pretty sure that she is not. She totally believes in God. We think she is using that as a cover-up for a hidden concern. She is practically a dry Mormon (means unbaptized)! Wish us luck with her!

I hope you all had a great Easter! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

This is the Renton Zone! We had our Zone Training this week, too.

This is what happens when the weather report says no rain and then it rains a lot.

This is Shady Lake! It was hard to find a good picture of it because of all the houses surrounding it.

Monday, April 10, 2017

This was the first week of white washing the Fairwood Ward! White washing is harder than I thought, but we are working through it! I heard that the first week is hard, but after that it gets great! So I am looking forward to this next week!

On Wednesday, we had a district meeting. I had to run it because I am now the district leader. I was given 2 days to prepare and no topic. I decided that no one can go wrong with talking about the Book of Mormon. I spent about an hour looking through Preach My Gospel and the scriptures to put it all together. I was pretty nervous about this meeting because I didn't know what I was going to say for most of the time. I remember feeling nervous, but I felt no stress. I felt calm and at peace.

At the district meeting, I gave it my all. I followed my notes for the majority of the time, but I also noticed that I was saying things that I didn't originally plan to say. I bore my testimony about how the Book of Mormon combined with the Spirit is the most powerful resource in missionary work. I don't remember most of what I was saying, just the feeling that I had. I know that the Spirit guided me and told me what to say for that meeting. I also know that He was giving me comfort over this calling that would normally stress me out. I know that Heavenly Father puts every missionary exactly where they are meant to be and exactly where they are most needed to build the kingdom of God. I am looking forward to this new transfer and I am planning to give it my all!

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

A lot has happened this week! Elder Smith hit is 6 month mark and we burned a tie in celebration, we watched General Conference, and now we are both getting transferred! Here is how transfers is going this time: Our ward, Garrison Creek, is getting pink-washed which means that Sister missionaries will be taking it over. We are both getting transferred out, but we also will be staying together to white-wash the Fairwood ward. That ward used to be covered by the sisters, so we are just doing a big switch! Apparently, I have been called to be a district leader this transfer, so it is going to be very interesting! We are going to transfer later today at the Maple Valley Stake Center.

I loved General Conference! I hope you all got to watch it because there were a ton of great talks! One of my favorites was by Jeffrey R. Holland when he talked about the choir. We all have a part in this choir and we all need to sing our best. Each part is different and that is okay because that is how chords are made. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone! I am happy to be able to serve the Lord in helping others find their seat and part in this choir! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,Elder Bretton Steiner.

Get out the apron! It is time to make some blueberry muffins!

Elder Kim taught us about the Last Supper using as many visuals as he could. It was an awesome district meeting!

Monday, April 3, 2017

This week has flown by! By the time Elder Smith and I got to Zone Conference on Friday, I was asking myself, "Is today Friday already?" Yep. It sure was. Zone Conference was pretty good. The main topic was all about the Doctrine of Christ. The Closer we are to Christ, the better we can represent Him as missionaries.

Part of our role-plays at Zone Conference was a challenge to mention the Doctrine of Christ in every single point of the lesson. It was a lot easier than I thought. By the way, if you want to know, the Doctrine of Christ is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. Everything that we do as Latter-Day Saints relates to the Doctrine of Christ. It is very important that it is a major part of our lives. We also got to see the Easter Initiative video early. It is so good! I can't wait to see it again! It will officially be released on March 31st! The second part of Zone Conference mainly focused on finding and planning. I feel like I learned a lot from it. I have a lot to work on!

Elder Smith and I have been teaching Alex recently. He is doing very well and understands the Plan of Salvation. He even asked some great questions! His parents said that he could decide to be baptized when he turns 10. That is about 3 months from now! Well, it couldn't have been better timed. :) I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

This actually makes a great breakfast!

Elder Smith happened upon a 4 leaf clover while we were weeding at Brother Ramsey's house! So lucky!